Blockade as Transnational Strategy: The Perspective from Japan

Talk by Sheldon Garon (Princeton University, 2021-2022 Paris IAS Fellow) as part of the conference "The Blockade in the Era of the Two World Wars" organized by the Department of Modern History and Society Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) with the support of The Research Council of Norway.

Presentation

In both world wars, blockades constituted a key means of warfare, which impacted profoundly on the living conditions of European and non-European populations, on world trade, on major strategic decisions (like unrestricted submarine warfare), on neutrality, on technology and science, on war economies and resource management, and on overall policy decisions. The experience of blockade in the First World War in particular informed trade and economic policies, military preparations, diplomatic negotiations, international law, and mentalities for the next three decades. Blockade became a defining feature of modern warfare itself.

This 2-day conference debates the developments, effects and legacies of blockade in 20th-century warfare, principally the two world wars. The conference brings together scholars working on a wide variety of topics and employing different methodological approaches to showcase and debate current research trends. It focuses on questions of economic, diplomatic, legal, and military history as well as social and cultural history. The intention of this conference is to review the current state of scholarship and stake out the ground for new research. In all, it interrogates the significance of the blockades for the era of the two world wars, paying special attention to how the 'first blockade' affected and shaped the 'second blockade'.

Practical informations

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